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Measurement
Mystery #12
A TRUE STORY of a test
jet engine---the
first 25,000-pound dry-thrust gas turbine in the United States:
The second time that it was started,
its first-stage turbine blades burned up.
The measurement system
said that everything had been fine! According to the turbine inlet gas temperature
recordings from the engine’s first start, the transient temperature had reached
no more than 1600 F. This was well below the maximum permitted temperature of
2500 F. (And the thermocouple measurement system was easily within its
calibration limits.)
Yet after the
metallurgists conducted their examination, they stated that the blades had been
exposed to temperatures far above the permitted limit.
What went wrong?
To
learn what happened, click here.